Traction-plow.



W. J. HOFFMAN.

nmcnon P Low. APPLICATION FILED MAR-l1 1913 Patented May 30, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1- WITNESSES: v 4 J l/av W J. HOFFMAN,

TRACTION PLOW.

APPLICATION mu) MAR. I, 1913.

1,1 85,202. Patented May 30,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 W J. HOFFMAN TRACTION PLOW.

APPLICATION mu) MAR x, 1913.

1 ,1 85,202. lhltented May 30, 1916.

3 SHEE1S-SHEET 3.

WI T NESSE S I i [N VE N TOR.

William. HdFFman 7: 2 34% W ATTORNEXJ UNITED STATES PATENT ()IiFlU-E.

WILLIAM J'. HOFFMAN, OF NEAR MONRGEVILLEZ INDIANA ASEIGNOR OFUYQEQH'Ai-F TO SAMUEL J. M'ARQUARDT OF l .!\li IVIONZIOE VILLE, INDIANAH TRACTION-PLOXV.

Application filed March 1.

Be it known that. it \Yllddjil' .l, Hori-- MA)", a citizen of the lnlted States. residing: near Mo] .ieville. in the count ot' .\llenr1udState zl' Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in'lraction-llows. of which the following i a specification.

Thia invention relates to tract on plows and particularly toimprovements in the tractor wheels or druma of said plows and in themann r of mounting; the power mechanism and drums: as a unit on the mainframe of the device.

It is becoming a well recognized fact that the soil should he more orlez pulverized hel'ore it is plowed into furrows. in order to betterprepare it f r agricultural purposes.

The object of my inv ntion is to provide a traction plow. the tractorwheels or drum of which shall he capalale of efficiently pulverizing thesoil previoua to the cutting ot' the furrow h the plow, the said drumsha v ing a tlexihle connection to the main frame of the device so as topermit the said drumx and source of power to flex verticall on theframe, and thereby relieve all undue Strain on the power producing;IIKClIZiHlSlI'l.

The invention consists in the novel eonstruction. arrangement andcomhination of: parts hereinafter i lescrihed and illustrated in the dowings, in which (llfHYlIlQ'S' Figure l is a plan view of a tractionplow provided with my invention: Fig. a fractional side view of the sameillustrating the manner of supporting the tractor drumsanrl powerproducing mechanism in the main frame: Fig 3. an end elevation of one ofthe t'aetor drums and Fig: l a central Seetional view of the drum.

Referring to the drawings. U) is the main frame of the plow. having: afurrow wheel ll pivi'itally mounted on one of its, sides and twosteering wheels 1'2, 13 pivotally mounted on the other side thereofv Atone Sltlt of the frame. preferably over the furrow wheel 11. is secureda seat ll for the operator. and in front of the seat is a steering post16 having at its lower end a worm gear 17, which is in mesh with ahorizontally ar ranged gear wheel 18, which is aecured to the upper endof a post if), the lower end of which post is suitably connected tofurrow wheel ll for turning the same. To this gear wheel aft. removahlypi voted one end of connecting rods 20, 21 which extend in oppo-S'rcificalion Letters Xmtena Patented Ink-1y 30, .193 6,

Allie other end c t the r alv heto one arm of hell cranks m. rwpecliv lvwhich are mounted l l'illlli lil. To the other a cranksv are connectedrods it which extend transveri clv the main frame and are eonncctedrcagectivelv to cranl-(s 2 '3? which are suilall seemed to Herring; whcel2 and lit rrwpevlivclv ll) turning the tcerin g wheil in either di- 6reetion it? pi. l worm ;Ztiil' rotate gear l the rotation of which turnstho wheel t'urrow wheel in lln proper direction and will cause rod 2th21 to m ve longiliulinallv t th eanic direction and roelv' hell'fll!lll\' j ("ranli 3:? exerts a pulling effort on 3. and ('ranh 1%,Ylllrw a pica! lg t n crank 13?, whereby the teerieg wheels l9, 13 arecatued o turn n their pivots in opposite directions according to thedirection in which the teering wheel rotated. i

,\t nuit'ahle poinh on frame ll) are revolahl mounted two eranli shaftsQ9, 30 w hich extend transversely acrose the frame.

it 30 each eluift is pivotally connected one end of a suitable nmoher ofplow heania 511. 32 which eXtHHl toward op 'misite endsi ii tilt) frame.llows 33, Eli are cminectod to the. other ends of beams 31, 35L thepoint at 3 plows I'lll facing the point$ of plov-R H in ordea that thedevice may operate haclt and forth across the field without lwin gturned around wh n the ends f the ti ld are rea hed. The severalheamsare connected 9 by cross lHHS 33. ill) in order that eacl'i gang ofplowfi shall form a unit for raising; and lowering: HIPUSL). 'lhe plowsof each gang are arrang d one in advance of the other an is usual in all gang plmw.

(ranks 37 and 38 are Secured to crank shafts it), ill) respectively andattached to the outer ends of ai=l cranks are chainn 39, l l which passover idlers ll, 49 which are carried by the main framm and the chainsare conne ted at their lower ends to the. heam of one plow of each ganglt: ap parent that as; either eranh eha l' i&- rotated to cause the(gentile portion thereof to travel upwardlv the chain will elevate thegang of plows; oil the ground since the crank to which it is connectedtravels, down-- wardl thereby drawing; the. chain toward the crankshaft. At the same time the or centric port on of the crank shaftelevates the plow beams and swings the plows toward the end of the framethereby enabling the plows to be readily withdrawn from the ground.\Vhen the crank shaft is rotated in the opposite direction the chainpermits the plows to lower and the eccentric portion of the shaft drawsthe points of the plows into the ground, the relative positions of theeccentric portion of the shaft and the crank 37 being such that thepoints of the plows first meet the ground as the lowering operation. isperformed.

At one outer end of the crank shafts are secured cranks 43, 44respectively to which cranks are connected suitable connecting rods 45,16 which extend toward the seat. Rods 45, 46 are suitably connected to alever 47 which is suitably mounted on frame 10 and extends upwardly inorder to be con venient to the operator. hen the operator rocks lever 47toward one end of frame 10 the gang of plows at that end are elevatedand the gang at the other end is lowered into the ground and vice versaaccording to the direction inlwhich the plow is being operated.

I do not describe the steering mechanism and the gangs of plows nor themeans for raising and lowering the plows in greater detail than I haveheretofore done since two way gang plows and steering mechanisms are oldin the art and I have described such of said mechanisms as willillustrate the application of my invention.

In the central portion of frame 10 I provide the source of power and thetractor drums which are assembled in a unitary group. The power isfurnished by any suitable driving mechanism such as a gasolene or oilengine. 48 of suitable horse power which is mounted upon an auxiliaryframe 49 whichextends across the main frame midway between the two gangsof plows. The main driving shaft 50 of the engine is provided with a.reverse clutch by which it is connected to a sprocket carrying shaft 53.The sprocket 54 on the latter shaft is connected by chain 55 to asprocket below it which is secured to a counter shaft 56. Counter shaft56 extends entirely across the main frame and is borne by bearings whichare provided in the upright opposite end portions 57 of frame 49.Adjacent opposite ends of the counter shaft are secured two sprocketwheels 58, 59 which are connected by chains 60, 61 to sprocket wheels onthe tractor drums, one of said latter sprocket wheels 62 being shown inFigs. 2 and 3.

The tractor drums are alike in construction, hence I need describe onlyone of them. The drum consists of a hub divided into two portions 63 and64, which are connected by sleeve 65 and which are. revolubly mounted ona shaft 66. which shaft i suitably carried in end portions 57 of theframe 49,

. Sprocket wheel (3,2 is mount d on one end of huh portion 3 and isdifferentially connected to the hub by any of the well knowndifferential mechanisms (not shown) which will permit the wheel to runidly when the machine being: turned. Spokes (37, 8 radiate from the hubsrespectively, and rims i9, are secured to or are integral with the outerends of the spokes. The rims are sufticicntly spaced transversely sothat there shall he a gap of considerable width between them, theperipl'ieral surface of each rim being narrow relatively to the spacebetween the rims. l have constructed the drum 24 inches in axial widthand with it have ob tained most satisfactory results.

Spanning the space between the rims and secured to their outerperipheries are a suitable number of knives 71. The knives are arrangedin a diagonal direction relatively to the axis of the drum and those onone drum extend in the opposite direction to the direction of those onthe other drum in order that the drums shall exert their power, whenoperating, in a straight line and not twist the machine out of that lineor jar the power device, as they would tend to do if the knives on bothdrums extended in a parallel direction. The outer or transverse edge ofeach knife is tapered or sharpened to form a cutting edge 79 which, asthe drum is rotated. will readily penetrate the ground and enable theentire outwardly extending portion 7 3 of each knife to pass into theground, and as it moves in a circle it will. cut up a considerableportion of the'ground and drop it behind the drum and in front of theplows which are making the furrows behind the drum. Each knife digs up aportion of the ground as it penetrates it and the quantity of ground itshall dig up is controlled by the radial height of its portion 73. Theknives may be arranged on the rims at any desired distance apart, itbeing apparent that the closer they are together the more effectuallywill they pulverize the soil. The rims (i9, 70 are the only portions ofthe drum which present a flat surface to the ground and since they arecomparatively narrow they have very little crushing effect on theground.

The end portions 57 of the auxiliary frame 49 are vertically slidable inbrackets 74 which are secured to each side of the main frame,consequently the entire frame 49 will flex vertically on the main frame,or it is relatively movable thereon in a vertical di rection. and sincethe engine and the drums, together with the driving mechanism whichconnects them, are mounted on the auxiliary frame, the weight of thoseparts affords ample resistance between the ground and drums to cause theknives ofthelatterto eniei the ground and to propel the machine. At thesame time the entire propelling unit L Ln Hmscquvntlyharmful M23131]: z'mwl'mnism are obviutw] my n'nNu mmmting of the mm H2: unit.

iin

W the 113mm :lml having their (mtw' 1.4mm My M nn-ml in form digging" Hm :rmtm: glim'v :1 pmpulliug' drum

